On Board Bucket of Blossoms

I've been thinking that I needed something cute and springy to decorate the window sill in my rubber room ever since I put up a new window treatment my Mom sewed for me. I still had the Flowers For You papers sitting out that we used at stamp club the other night and I noticed how well they matched the cute little tin buckets that I have hanging from my peg board for miscellaneous tools. Two of those colors - celery and rose, also matched the fabric used for the valance. (I also used a bit of So Saffron Designer prints since that color was also in the fabric.) I had quite a few pieces left from a set of On Board Blossoms & Basics chipboard, so I decided it was time to use some of them up. This is what I came up with.


I just love the way it turned out! The hardest part was trying to decide which sheets of patterned paper & which shapes to use. When I made my decisions I traced around the shapes and cut them out. The easiest way to do this is to trace the shape on the wrong side of the paper so you don't have to erase any pencil marks. I found it helpful to also make a mark on the top of the flower shape and on the same spot on the chipboard so it was easy to then line them back up. I adhered the paper to the chipboard using decoupage medium and a foam brush, but you could also use a glue stick or Tombow multi purpose adhesive. After I allow the shapes to dry a bit, I sanded off the excess paper around the edges.
The stems are made from lolly-pop sticks (found in the baking section at the craft store) brushed with Certainly Celery re-inker. I used my hot glue gun to attach the flowers and leaves to the stem. The metal bucket was purchased at Target in their Dollar Spot area a while back. (I noticed recently they have them again...just different colors) The bucket had 2 holes in the front where ribbon was threaded though and tied into a bow. I changed out the ribbon to better match my project and also added some rub-ons I had left from the Love & Happiness collection (SAB).

I filled the bucket with Styrofoam and then inserted the flowers. I covered the foam with some Spanish moss, but felt it needed some more color, so I crimped some Certainly Celery cardstock and cut it into thin strips to put on top of the moss...and I was done! It looks so cute on my window sill!

Pretty soon I'll have flowers popping up outside my window as well. Especially if the weather reports I've heard are correct. Today is going to be a beautiful day...possibly hitting 70 degrees! We are going out to dinner later to celebrate my oldest sons birthday. He turns 20 today! I can hardly believe it! I don't feel old until I see how grown up my boys are...then it hits me! Oh well, I guess you're only as old as you act...and most of the time I don't act my age. (guess that can be good and bad...but at least I have fun!;^) Have a wonderful day!